Borno State Govt declares December 22 Public Holiday to Celebrate Defeat of Boko Haram Terrorists

Governor Kashim Shettima declared that December 22nd of every year will be known as Sambisa Memorial Day and an annual public holiday henceforth in Borno State to celebrate the defeat of the Boko Haram terrorists by the Nigerian military.

He disclosed this at the opening of the 2017 Small Arms Championship in Sambisa Forest in Borno on Monday.

The Borno Government will from this year begin to declare Dec. 22 as Sambisa Memorial Day.

This day will be marked as Public Holiday in Borno for the purpose of celebrating the strength and the victory of our Armed Forces,” Shettima said.

He explained that the day would also be used for remembering victims of the Boko Haram terrorism and the families they had left behind. He included that members of the Armed Forces and volunteers who lost their lives while fighting against the terrorists will also be remembered and celebrated for their heroics on this day.

The Borno government will do everything possible to ensure that the patriotism of our heroes is supremely preserved and not taken for granted,”he said

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the military for chasing away the Boko Haram terrorists from their Sambisa neighbourhood.

He said based on Buhari’s announcement, the Sambisa Forest became dead at about 1.35 p.m. on December 22, 2016.

Three months after its demise, today marks the official funeral of the Sambisa Forest. I am proud to have witnessed this funeral and I congratulate all of us for being witnesses to the triumph of good over evil,” he said.

He said the fall of Sambisa is both symbolic and memorable and as a result, the state government will request for partnership with the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of Information to construct a museum that will be named Sambisa Fall and International Research Centre. This will be used to document the roles played by everyone from the Commander-In-Chief, service commanders and soldiers in the fight against freedom and also to keep all materials related to the military fight against the Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa.

The centre will also help to preserve valuable materials recovered by the military in relation to the fight against Boko Haram terrorists and to document history of the crisis from the days of Taliban to the Boko Haram terrorism.

Importantly, our aim is to document responses by successive political and military leadership and the eventual fall of Sambisa Forest under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

We hope that such a museum will become a global custodian of information and valuable materials on issues relating to the Boko Haram and the role played by the Nigerian military and the multi national forces.

We will propose that the museum should have a hall of fame for fallen heroes which will bear names and pictures of notable officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Also, the hall of fame will bear the names of the paramilitary, the Civilian JTF and the hunters who paid supreme price in helping to free us from Boko Haram terrorists,” the governor said.